What type of Revolver?

[neiluwins]

What make and type of Revolver would a Territorial Officer been carrying when he left England in 1914 for service in India?

[CROONAERT]

Could have been one of a range of revolvers in all reality... chances are that it would have been a .455 Webley Mk.V though.

Dave.

[James A Pratt III]

There is a book you may be interested in "The Webley Story" by William C Dowell which is a detailed study of Webley pistols and revolvers.

[TonyE]

As the previous poster has said, in all likelyhood it would have been a .455 Webley Mark V, which was the current service pistol at that time. As an officer he would have been expected to purchase his own revolver, so it could also have been one of the commercial versions of the Webley.

The official position was that it should be in the service calibre which limited the choice in 1914, although the Colt and Smith & Wesson were both available at that time.

Regards

TonyE

[centurion]

The Indian Army allowed officers two pistols - a service issue - the Webley and a private one which he purchased himself. Pistols known to have been carried by Indian Army officers in WW1 include:

Webley-Fosbery .455 Automatic-Revolver

Winchester .351

Mauser C96

[James A Pratt III]

Note: the Winchester .351 is a rifle better known as the model 1907 which did see some use by the French, US, and Russians during WW I that I am sure of along with the similiar Model 1910 in .401 caliber. These were both semi-automatic rifles.

[James A Pratt III]

I have dug out an artical by John Henwood the author of the book "The Forgotten Winchesters: A history of the Models 1905, 1907, and 1910 SelfLoading Rifles". Here is what it has:

French: used 3000 Model 1907s and some Model 10s to arm aircraft and for use by ground troops

Briitish boght 120 Model 1907s December 1914-April 1915 for RFC use

Russia: 1915 bought 250 Model 1910s used at the front 1916-17 and during the Russian Civil War that followed. They alsoordered 500 Model 1907s but there is no information on their use.

Serbs did use some Model 1907s

US did buy 19 Model 1907s for use by airmen during the Pershing Punitive Expedition into Mexico in 1916. A few US soldiers and Marines did privately purchase Model 1907s and used them in combat in France during WW I. The Model 1907 and a few Model 1910 did see some use by number of US law enforcement agencies over the years until the 1970s.

One hopes this is of some help.